The Dreaded Lord Soth 8
by Cleric Theobald
Summary: The Lords of Krynn fight an ancient enemy, Chapter 8 of 11


My spiritual Master has allowed me the honor of continuing to edit the unending story of the Lords of Krynn, though I am dead and gone.He has seen to it that I have the ability to send these further documents along to you all.

This installment, labeled "The End" by the original editor, is the eighth chapter of the original Soth story, in which the battles declines into a whimper and dies out, all participants backing off and licking their wounds.Such a massive battle would not occur again until the one which currently engulfs Brittania, one in which Soth is once again a major player.I pray for you all daily, friends, and hope to be able to intervene on your behalf when possible.

Cleric Theobald, dead guy

Assistant Guild Sage

Lords of Krynn

***

The End...

The remainder of Soth's army was gone.Evil's army had disappeared over a far ridge, seemingly having lost heart for the fight.The battlefield was a torn and devastated place.Bodies of all types and manner lay everywhere, on everything.Oakbow turned to Connor and Talmorr."We should leave this place.There has been enough death, enough destruction.Lord Soth's army has been nearly wiped out; it will be a long, long time indeed before we must fear him.Our new castle should be nearing completion even now.We must gather what mages we have remaining and create gates to our new home.We will not be caught unprepared again and our new home will be impregnable."

Talmorr spoke up, "Yes.We have many injured that need care.We must begin work on our new castle immediately.Defenses must be put in without delay, and much better preparation laid out this time.We can deal with Evil and Soth at a later time.Who knows?They may deal with one another for us."

Oakbow and Connor, together with the other leaders remaining on the field such as Nicodarious, Kianne, Talmorr, Tirlon and Averyl, lent their power to the formation of gates, and the ragtag remainder of the LoK army vanished from the field.

Before stepping through, Ion said, "Good luck, Pirvan."

Seconds after they left, the sounds of battle and screams of death began to drift from the direction of Evil's departed army.

***

Evil saw the front ranks of his returning army coming into view.They were still some distance away and needed more time before they could aid him.Tina crouched with her glowing mace scant paces away and Pirvan, grinning abnormally for a goodie, was preparing to launch an attack.A hundred yards away, up the hill, Evil's hellish minions were locked in a death struggle with Soth and his guard.As he glanced in that direction he saw the two pit fiends rip one of Soth's mighty twenty into tiny pieces, roaring in bestial glee.Just off to the side, one of his valued gelugons was blasted into a million pieces by the combined magical attacks of Soth, his Lich Commander, and two other extremely powerful lich lords.Having no time to spare to watch that battle, Evil turned his attention back to Pirvan and Tina.

His black hair whipped around his body like a hundred pissed-off snakes.His hair suddenly began to strike at the two adversaries like black spearpoints.Pirvan deftly blocked and parried, cutting off strand after strand of hair, which promptly fell to the ground, turning into normal hair once more.Tina was unable to deal with the speed of the attack and was forced to return to her dragon form once more.Opening her great jaw, she let many of the deadly sharp hair-spears enter her mouth and then bit down, severing a great many.Evil grunted in pain and lost concentration on the spell he had been about to loose.Pirvan stepped in and swung his mighty blade at Evil's midsection.Evil caught it in his hands, ignoring the pain as the blade bit deep, and his fingernails shot out like daggers, burying themselves in Pirvan's arm.Gasping in pain and shock, Pirvan released his weapon and barked out an offensive spell.It slammed into Evil, but Evil was unharmed and now there could be seen mulitudes of shining spheres encapsulating him.Tina let loose with her tail and claws, which would be unaffected by his spell of protection, and Evil was forced to invoke his ring of teleport in a quick series of jumps to avoid being mulilated.Evil let loose a powerful spell of Vertigo and Tina suddenly lost her balance and nearly decapitated Pirvan with her tail.Pirvan canceled the foul magick and summoned a blazing sword of magic into his hand.The opponents faced off again, preparing to continue the fight as Kang, leading Evil's returning army, got closer.

Kang's armies advanced quickly on the battle.His subcommanders knew what to do."Attack!" he screamed.His forces surged forward, moments away from slamming into Soth's force.

The lich commander, seeing the advancing army, raised its arms in the casting of an arcane spell.A greater mummy joined it, adding power to the spell.The earth below the army began to rumble.

"To the air!" Kang yelled, fearing a magical earthquake.His fears, however, were unfounded.He should have feared something else.Skeletal claws broke through the ground as hordes of undead pulled themselves from long forgotten graves.The lands of Sosaria were rife with danger, and many dead creatures lay below the ground.The undead remains of ogres, ettins, trolls, and other creatures were animated by the lich's spell.The undead creatures attacked the beatific army under Kang's command.The lich's spell empowered the undead, which normally would have been unable to harm the baatezu troops.It had one adverse side effect however: the lich commander was drained, and would require time before it could act again.

Kang, leaving his army to fend off the undead, rushed to help his lord and commander, Evil.He was cut off, however, when a large draconic skeleton burst from the ground."Dracolich!" Kang cried.He had not thought that such creatures existed on Sosaria, but apparently, with the lich's magic, they did.The creature opened its mouth, belching forth a gout of flame.Kang dove out of the way, rolled to one side, and sprang to his feet, all in one fluid motion.Finding himself at the dracolich's flank, Kang slashed at it with his barbed sword.The sword cleaved through the dracolich's ribs.The beast was virtually unharmed, even though such a blow would have proved fatal to a live dragon.Readying himself for magical combat, Kang sheathed his sword."Corp Por!" he spoke, weaving intricate patterns in the air.A bolt of energy flew from his fingertips, speeding towards the dracolich.It crashed into the undead dragon's face, sending splinters of bone flying in all directions.The light in its eye sockets grew dim and Kang turned.Heading toward Evil again, Kang felt a great heat rushing up to his back.With his superior draconian reflexes, Kang was able to drop down, avoiding the firey blast.Rolling onto his back, Kang saw the marred skull of the draconian looking down at him.Fully half of its face had been blasted off, but it was still fighting.Kang suddenly began to fear for his life.

Evil was just as powerful as he had been the last time they had met.Tina was beginning to worry.Navrip had control of Pirvan's body, and that proved distracting to her.The evil one didn't remember how frail a human body could be, and he was treating Pirvan's body like his MECH one.As the vertigo spell washed over her, Tina fell to the side._Whatever gods may be listening, please help me, she silently prayed.Struggling to right herself, Tina tried to formulate a plan._

"Die, traitor!" Navrip yelled, rushing to the attack.He raised the glowing sword of flame above his head and slashed downward.The speed with which the attack came astounded all, Evil included.He barely had time to sidestep, but his nearness to the flaming sword seared his unholy flesh.

Tina took the opportunity to launch her own attack on Evil.Opening her mouth, an arc of ionized gas erupted from the gaping maw.It slammed into Evil's exposed side, knocking him off balance.The creature was strong, though, and even Tina's mighty breath weapon wasn't enough.

In fact, the attack knocked Evil safely out of the path of Navrip's follow-up strike.Growling, Navrip flashed an evil glare at Tina.Feeling Pirvan's eyes burn into her, even though fueled by Navrip's evil, upset Tina.

Evil took the opportunity to counter attack.He loosed a dark cloud at Navrip, a cloud which was formed from pure evil.It was designed to suck the lifeforce out of all creatures who aligned themselves with good.Evil laughed eerily as the cloud began to dissipate slowly.

***

Dark Legion heaved the reins of his horse as he saw shimmering light in the distance from the direction of the goodie LoKs' location."Damn," he muttered in disgust.His true advesaries had fled, as usual.A daemon with tendrils coming from his shoulders wrapped around the legs of his horse._A straggler of Evil's army, he thought to himself.He shook off the gauntlet from his left hand and it began to take the form of claws.His arm extended and cut the tendrils free from his horse.The horse whinnied as Dark Legion's mace crushed the head of the daemon.Dark Legion guided his horse to a vantage point from where he could view the battle between Evil and the remnants of Soth's army.Either way, it was a win-win situation from his point of view, as he didn't particularly like either one.It seemed evil truly had turned on itself this day._

***

High in the tower of the original keep of the Lords of Krynn, on Krynn, the hub of all portals, Dor the Doorknob busily wrote gibberish in the Tobril as everything transpired on Sosaria.Having been "appointed" guardian of the Tobril after Gilean had departed to fight the almighty god Chaos, he truly was a god.This was no clone, this was the original, all-powerful Dor.Suddenly, Dor heard something awfully peculiar.

"Whatever gods may be listening, please help me."

It was a girl's voice, but yet not a humanoid voice.It had a beastial quality to it.Using his godly powers (he had read the Tobril with all of its secrets--well, at least the pictures), he peered into the book to gain "sight beyond sight."He saw nasty Evil being bad again.Dor pushed up his sleeves and said, "Me mighty.Me send mighty magical sword ta help."

As Pirvan/Navrip, Tina, and Evil fought on Sosaria, a normal sized silver fork fell from the sky and hit Evil on the head.It fell to the ground with clank and rested on the ground.

Back on Krynn, Dor said, "Ah, well," and went back to writing about how a kender had discovered the long lost artifact of Unkie Tas.

***

After what seemed like a bloody month, Justice emerged from the ruined Temple of Takhisis.He coughed heavily to remove the dirt from his lungs, spitting up gobs of mucous on the floor.He patted himself down, removing the dust and cobwebs that had accumulated on his clothes.After taking a short breather, he walked toward the rusty remains of the gate.He had a mission: return with Kennington's Legion of Steel starjewel to a place called Sosaria and find the one who led it.Who that was, he didn't know.For all he knew, it could be him.He didn't even know where Sosaria was or how to get there.So many questions and no one to answer them.Justice slung the metal crossbow around his shoulder and started walking toward only the gods' knew where.Destiny would just have to come to him.

Wouldn't you know it.It did.

In the hot, sweltering sun of the Neverwinter wasteland there were shadows that were moving but nothing to cast them.The dark midget-looking shades moved to and fro as if looking for something.They had eerie, glowing eyes that suddenly met with his.He let out a breath of air as he prepared himself for the worst."Justice," he yelled, as the shades zigged and zagged toward him.The sword went through them without any resistance.As the shadows passed right through him, he felt arcing sensations of numbness branching out._This isn't good, he thought to himself.__Then again, when had it ever been good since I left on this fool's journey?He staggered forth but was overcome by the paralyzing effects of the shades.He felt something being taken from his belt.A small leather bag hung in the air.With pain, he swung the sword just inches from the suspended bag.An inhuman shriek was let out as it pulled away and the bag fell to the ground.The shadows pulled back and pointed at the bag.Whatever was in that bag, it was important.Justice picked up the bag with much strain with his left hand.__They had had to become tangible to take the bag.That had been their moment of vulnerability.The numbness dissipated after a minute or so; it wasn't permanent.He gripped the sword and waved it, as if taunting them.The spirits rushed him but made no attempt to take the bag.His body went into spasmatic fits as all of his muscles froze at different times, messing up the neural pathways of his brain.Different parts of his body shutdown, then he blacked out when his brain went down._

When he became aware of himself again, he scrambled around in a frenzy.The shadows were gone and so was the bag of holding.He went through the rest of his belongings and found everything else was intact.He remembered the contents of the bag.Gem fragments that he had found near the gate._What could have been so important about a hundred pieces of gem shards?He shrugged and wandered on._

***

Dark Legion sat upon his black armored horse, overlooking the battle.He was surprised by the arrival of the Dors' corrupted dark souls.They dropped a small bag into his hand and he gripped it with anticipation.He nodded his head in acknowledgement of their work and drew the dark souls into a dark, magical gem.These souls were damned to his evil service.He opened the bag and found it was a bag of holding, much to his chagrin.A remnant of the old memories of Neverwinter passed through his mind.Inside the bag he saw sparkling gem fragments.He could feel the power still pulsating in them, although its captive was long gone...Or was it?He tried to restrain himself from laughing but couldn't.A haunting laugh echoed across the bloody landscape.This treasure was too valuable to be exposed to such hostile forces.

He activated the teleportation abilities of his red dragon baton.Instantaneously, he was riding at the side of Anton Shadarik."Anton, I entrust this to you.Hide it with the other treasures we liberated.It will be instrumental in destroying Sosaria, but not yet.It needs to be restored, first.The fools fight for the scraps of what will be a dead world.This world is tainted with disease and lust.Murder and more murder haunt this land, swallowing everyone up until everyone is the same.I see it festering in the eyes of all the LoKs that reside on this accursed world.This rotting world will not be missed; it will die slowly from within or die swiftly by my hand.In time...in time..."

***

Tirlon stood with the others.Oakbow spoke of rebuilding.They all agreed that Evil and Soth would weaken each other, but still he was uneasy.He felt this chapter was not finished.Other forces were at work.Suddenly, he bent over as a sharp pain stabbed through him.An old power he had wished forgotten washed through his consciousness.

Oakbow turned to him."Tirlon?Are you okay?What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

Tirlon grimaced but responded, "Death.Destruction.We are in danger."He saw the bewildered look on his friends' faces.

Connor started to speak, "What are..."

Tirlon concentrated, he did not hear his question."There," Tirlon said.He teleported.

Tirlon appeared behind a dark figure, which whirled around immediately.

"A white robe?" Dark Legion gasped in suprise."How did you..."He stopped, arcane words forming on his lips.He did not finish.The winds slammed into him and he was thrown back.He struggled and tried to cast.A bolt of power ripped through him.Yet he still was conscious.He cried, "My queen, help me!"He fell.

Tirlon sensed the power emminating from Dark Legion's belt.He bent over and plucked the pouch away.A word was whispered behind Tirlon.

"Home."

Tirlon twisted to the right as a mace crashed into the ground next to him.The force shook the ground, hurling Tirlon down.Pain shot through his shoulder.Gem fragments scattered everywhere.Tirlon heard a laughter behind him.

"Foolish wizard.Now, die!"

Tirlon grimaced, but he was not finished.Turning, he smiled at him.

Dark Legion's eyes widened as the winds slammed into him once more.He gasped, "Tirlon!" as he got hurled through a wall.

Tirlon scooped up some fragments.Then he heard movement behind him.He turned to see Dark Legion standing.In amazement, Tirlon saw him healing before his eyes.Dark Legion's eyes blazed as he charged.He is quite mad, Tirlon realized.He began to fade.He showed Dark Legion his hand, it was filled with fragments.

Dark Legion saw them and screamed in rage as Tirlon disappeared.The mace crashed down, shattering rock.

Tirlon reappeared before the others.

Connor caught him as he fell."You're hurt!"

Tirlon steadied himself.He opened his hand, revealing what he carried.

Talmorr gasped, and Oakbow shook his head."I don't understand."

Tirlon responded, "The end of all.It is--"

"Chaos," Talmorr said gravely, finishing the sentence for Tirlon."Those're pieces of the Graygem.

***

Dark Legion helped Anton to his feet."By Takhisis, how could Tirlon have known?!"His fingers twitched over a jewel and dark souls went about collecting the gem fragments back into the bag.

Anton fell to his knees."Please, my lord, spare me."

"Anton.It wasn't your fault.The ambush was totally unexpected.Paladine's meddling again, no doubt.Now get up."Anton stood and grabbed the bag of holding."The gem fragments were useless to me in their current form.They had to be reassembled using powerful magics and items that only Reorx knew about.Tirlon's possession of them is just a drop of water in a pond filled with problems.Sosaria is an evil land that must be destroyed.Give me the bag."Anton handed him the bag.Dark Legion swallowed the bag and used his shapeshifting powers to secure it in his body."There should be no safer place than in here."He thumped his chest with his fist."Go now!Secure the relics in your possession.There will be much work to do in keeping the faith for our goddess pure.Our numbers may be small, but that will be to our advantage!"Anton mounted his horse and rode off.Dark Legion caged the dark souls once more.

_Tirlon, Tirlon...Lord of the Hot Air and Passing Wind.Your time will come...Dark Legion teleported to Ryus Devis' army of draconians.It was still a day's march to Wildrunner Keep.He really didn't know what to do with this army.Attack Evil?What would that prove?Let them rejoin Soth?That was also out of the question.__Hmmm..._

***

Lord Soth had appeared back on the battlefield for two reasons.One was to destroy a few pesky LoKs who had dared face him, and the second was to capture a certain artifact.They had just about made it to the destroyed LoK keep when Evil's forces slammed into them.The Pit Fiends were completely unexpected.They were creatures of incredibly vast power who lived for battle and death.For most, this fight wouldn't be easy, but Soth had returned from the Abyss not too long ago--after having been personally trained by Takhisis herself.His most powerful undead were fighting at his side.Soth and the undead could communicate like they were one mind, and their actions this day proved it.A greater mummy was instantly shredded by the Pit Fiends, but their advantage stopped there.The undeads' powerful magic seemed to be too much for the lesser daemons.Ice storms, magic missiles and meteor showers wreaked havok on them.Evil's forces suffered very few casualties, but they were confused; the magical attack was too much.Soth himself was an undead madman.His sword flashed and spells flew.For the first time in this war, Soth's forces had the upper hand.

Then Kang's army approached, and a scattered fray broke out as they passed.The Lich commander, working in sync with a greater mummy, raised the dead.Undead bodies rose from the ground and tore into their enemies.In an instant, Soth had a new army of loyal, unfearing, vicious undead.The undead did not form ranks; they simply turned and tore into Evil's powerful force.Soth's personal troops and his new "army" piled onto the daemons, overwhelming them.

"In Jux Sanct!" Kang hissed, seconds before the dracolich's spell was able to slam into him.The magical lightning bolt bounced off Kang's newly erected magic shield and flew back towards the creature.Undead bones shattered as the lightning bolt surged through creature.That proved too much for the mighty dracolich, and it crashed to the ground, the light fading from its hideous skull once and for all.Kang saw that his troops were being slaughtered by undead forces."Fall back!" he commanded."Form ranks!"The baatezu did as commanded, forming orderly combat ranks.Then the baatezu were fighting at their best.Creatures of interminable law and evil, disorder was a severe weakness to them.They hefted their weapons and slowly began to turn back the undead.A gelugeon devestated a whole legion of ogre skeletons."Zefrafos!" Kang cried, ordering the gelugeon to his side.The bug-like creature ran to him, slicing a troll zombie in two as he did."Zefrafos, take command of the troops.Make sure they stay in ranks.I'm going to help our leader."Zefrafos acknowledged the order, then went back to the fighting.Kang, seeing an open field ahead, ran towards the fighting figures of Evil, Pirvan, and Tina.

_A fatal mistake on the part of Kang, thought Lord Soth.He had overheard the order for Zefrafos to take command.And the creature was doing a relatively good job, noticed the Death Knight._

The small contingent that Zefrafos was leading was pushing back by the undead.Zefrafos himself was smashing skeletons and any other undead that stepped in front of him.His huge arm swung and smashed another.Following through in the same motion, Zefrafos backhanded at the next figure in front of him.But his arm came to a dead stop, the wrist bones shattering.Zefrafos grabbed his injured arm in pain and looked up to see what rock he had broken his own arm on.Lord Soth stood in front of him, his left hand holding a sword.Zefrafos swung again, his other huge arm intent on taking Soth's head off.The arm connected solidly with the Death Knight's helm, and once again, the force of the blow shattered his huge wrist bones.Soth's spell had been very effective.Zefrafos stared at Soth, both incredible anger and horrible anguish marring his face.He howled his anger, but the battle cry was cut short as the Death Knight's sword plunged deep into his chest.

Ripping the sword out, Soth put leverage to one side and the wound opened wider, becoming a fountain of blood.Zefrafos' eyes went wide in shock and pain and he fell to the ground, his life blood quickly draining from his body.With the leader of Kang's forces down, the creatures lost their coordination and the undead horde quickly gained the upper hand again.But Soth had underestimated the baatezu legions.Even without a leader, their very nature demanded that they form ranks.Even without a crafty leader directing them, the baatezu and undead were evenly matched.

***

Upon arriving at the new castle, this being Nic's first visit, he did a cursory examination of its surroundings and found them to his liking._I'm still going to miss the keep, though, Nic mused to himself.Moving around to help those rangers who were wounded in the battle, Nic lost himself in thought as something kept nagging at the back of his mind.__We forgot something, he thought.After tending the wounded, Nic headed down to the main chamber where the rest of the officers were conferring on their next move.Everything seemed as it should be.Then he remembered.__It is not here.He had gotten so used to seeing it back at the keep in the main chamber that he had overlooked it.__As has everyone else, for that matter."My Lords," Nicodarious interupted the discussion at hand, "I'm afraid that whatever it is you're deciding needs to be done quickly.In our haste to get out of harm's way, we left something behind.The very thing Lord Soth"--Nic spat out the name--"wanted in the first place.We left the guildstone at the bottom of a crevice, and no matter who wins the battle that is now raging, the last thing we want to happen is for any of them to get it ahead of us.Is there some way we can use our connection to the stone to teleport directly to it and get it out of there before they get it?"_

Talmorr looked up at Nicodarious and nodded."Aye, lad; you might be right.I hadn't even considered that option.But remember, if we are attuned to it, so is Soth.He is LoK also.He still battles Evil.We have time."Talmorr thought back to the gem fragments."I hope," he muttered under his breath.

Nicodarious looked at him."What, Talmorr?"

"Nothing, Nic; at least not yet."Talmorr looked directly at Nicodarious."There is more going on than you realize, but you are right.The immediate concern is the guildstone.I can spare some knights to go back, but the recovery is beyond my abilities."Talmorr looked around the table."Any ideas?"

"I may be able to help," said Connor.All eyes turned to him.

***

After taking down the leader of the baatezu, Soth watched as the creatures still formed ranks and continued to hold their own against the undead.But slaying the leader was only the beginning of Soth's attack plan.Ordering all undead larger than man-size to try and encircle the baatezu, his undead trolls, ogres and other monstrosities rushed to do his bidding.The incredible strength of the creatures allowed them to throw their body weight and muscle against the baatezu and squeeze in between them.The large undead dug in deep and pushed outwards.The baatezu ranks slowly began to crumble, and as they did, more undead rushed in to fill the gaps.

The creatures that seemed to rely solely on order began to crumble once again under the undead assault.The baatezu began to fall, being trapped on all sides by undead.The creatures of Baator had means of replenishing their strength, however.Some of the abiashi used their magical ability to gate in their fellows to nearly triple their strength.The undead lacked one important piece of knowledge, as well: lemures and nuppierbo, while the weakest of baatezu, had the ability to slowly regenerate.Those not being trampled by undead arose, rushing in to attack anything non-baatezu.

Suddenly, the undead found themselves caught in the trap they were just pulling.Weak lemures and nuppierbo hit them from the rear while abiashi, glabrezu, osyloths, and cornugons attacked from the front.The armies of undead, however, seemed endless in number.For every one undead that fell, another took its place, while the stronger baatezu weren't able to regenerate.The only way to cease the rise of undead would be to kill the lich commander or the greater mummy that had assisted it, but none of the baatezu knew this, so they stubbornly fought on.

***

Dark Legion pondered what to do with the draconians, and decided on a gamble."Ryus, take Holocaust Wing to Anton's location and make preparations."

Ryus' eyebrows raised at this request."I beg your pardon, sir?"

"I said take the wing to Anton.The battle is winding down and we've lost.We are all that's left of the true Knights of Takhisis.We must pay the price for Soth's folly.I will lead the draconian army.Take this with you." Dark Legion handed him the red and blue dragon batons."This is a one way ticket, where I'm headed."

Ryus acknowledged the orders with a salute and shouted, "Dark Knights, halt!"Soon the dark knights teleported out.

Dark Legion rode with the draconians to Wildrunner Keep, still a day away.He needed to speak with Oakbow.

***

The few moved very silently through the darkness, aided by the potions they had just drunk.The rangers, with their lord at the lead, slipped through the darkness.Knowing that the undead did not sleep, but that they did rest for a bit each night, slowly the handpicked few crept forward.Using darkness as their cover and wrapping themsleves in it like a blanket, they moved forward.Down in the crevice and towards what was once their home; with their pitch blackened swords raised they approached the resting stone.Silently, after a quick flurry of activity, they were gone again, having obtained what they came for.Swiftly, they moved out of the enemy's lines with their lord at the lead.Silently, the rangers moved away from the lines of the enemy, carrying that which had brought them this far.The artifact that they were charged with guarding and keeping whole.Long ago, the rangers had made sure that they would always be able to locate it and now that enchantment had held true.The only question was: could they get it back home?

The trip began.

***

Evil's body was drenched in sweat.A wild melee raged all about him.His abyssal forces were locked in mortal combat with Soth's endless stream of undead.Evil himself had been facing off with Pirvan and Tina for far too long.The arrival of his army had at last caused Pirvan and Tina to focus their attention on their own safety and not his demise.Pirvan and Tina were now targets for everyone--Soth's army and Evil's army--for both saw them as enemies.Evil saw them fighting for their survival and did not think they could last much longer; they would have to flee or die.Sighing in disgust, Evil decided it was time to live to see another day and bring this battle to a stop, at least for now and for him.

It looked as if his abyssal armies had been nearly vanquished.Soth had been free to run wild while Pirvan and Tina had occupied his attention.The rest of his army was also seriously depleted._It will be a long time before I will be able to appear with an army in force again, he thought.__I will be forced to lurk in the shadows, again.The thought disturbed him, but he knew when to cut his losses.He would need what was left on the battlefield of his army just to secure himself a place here on this dangerous world._

He had one last thing to accomplish first, though.He still had enough power for two extremely powerful spells.Once he cast them, though, he would be extremely vulnerable and would be forced to flee quickly.Surrounded by the remnants of his loyal army, Evil's eyes rolled back into his head as he began to chant ancient, forgotten words of power.He felt the presence of Takhisis within him, and felt his power build and build and build.His eyes finally flickered open and his body shook visibly.He was ready.It was time.That lich commander of Lord Soth had always been a constant pain; he was too powerful an ally.It was time to finish him.Invoking one of his rings, Evil teleported suddenly right in front of the lich commander.The incredibly powerful lich smiled a smile of death and opened its decayed maw to spit death at Evil.Evil didn't hesistate; he locked his lips with those of the lich and invoked his spell, his words slithering into the very body of the lich commander.The creature began to tremble and shake violently.A sharp keening noise began to pierce the battlefield.All the combatants paused and looked to the noise.Soth himself looked up from his slaughter of the abyssal forces, but he was too far and too late to stop what had begun.Suddenly, the lich commander exploded into millions of tiny black lights, which spun about Evil and then darted into him, joining with his soul.Evil had just invoked a spell called Dark Soul, which pitted his soul against that of the lich.The spell put the souls of each into contact with one another, and whichever of the two was the darkest swallowed that of the other.Evil had taken a risk and won.The lich commander was no more.

Now Evil quickly spoke the finishing words to his last spell, while everyone on the battlefield stood eerily still, some awed and some confused by what had just happened.Right next to Evil, a portal of the deepest black appeared and Evil raised his voice and shouted, "Those loyal to me, follow me through this portal!We shall have another day to call our own!"And Evil stepped through right before Soth appeared in back of him and swung his sword.His sword went through air.For those who followed him into the portal and who were not truly loyal to him in their heart, they would find themselves fifty feet in midair above a steaming pit of lava.The battlefield Evil left behind descended into chaos as the rest of Evil's army scrambled for the portal.They had five minutes before it closed.

Soth was not happy.

Kang watched as his leader stepped through the portal."Until we meet again, fellow LoKs!" he shouted, giving a slaute to those who would pay him any heed.He dove through the portal, landing next to Evil on the other side.In the Abyss.

On Krynn, Dor the Dooknob, Kender God, chuckled as he saw Evil flee the battle after being smited by the mystical silver fork of Dor."Me Mighty!" he yelled, hanging out the window of his tower.

***

Oakbow hoped that Connor and his hand-picked group of rangers would return safely with the guildstone.He stood on the battlements of LoK's new castle and felt older than his years.He was still very young, but he had seen so much death, and too much of it had been LoK against LoK._No more.This new castle will be kept extremely fortified and no corners will be cut.He planned on making Soth realize that attacking LoK here would be fruitless, and that Soth should look elsewhere for his dark conquests.Hopefully, Soth would find AoD or some other dark guild to fight against, because he knew Soth could not ally with the other dark guilds who were devoted to other gods.Takhisis would not be pleased if he did._

The castle was very nearly complete.The work being done now was the finishing touches and the third and fourth tier defense networks.Oakbow's success as a businessman here had earned him a lot of money, and he was sparing no expense decking out this castle with every defense money could buy.He had agreed to pay the Honor Guard of Britain a monthly fee to insure their aid in the event of an attack.As long he continued to pay, they had pledged their aid should the LoK Castle be attacked.They were five hundred strong._It never hurts to have insurance, he thought.Of course, the castle still needed many amenities such as furniture, but those things would come in time.As he stood here, he felt a little nervous.Shirak had notified him that he would be visiting the castle in a week to make some very important announcements about the guild itself.Oakbow could only wonder what he had to say.He looked down and saw Talmorr drilling the knights in the courtyard and smiled.It was good to be with his friends in a place they could call home again._

Oakeye had been hard at work.Ordering his son to give him a bag of runes which would take him to every inn in every city, and ordering Oakbow to give him a very large money pouch as well, Oakeye had set out stocking the new castle's alcohol supplies.His son had made sure to let the builders know they needed an extremely large wine cellar when constructing the castle.And now Oakeye was doing his best to fill the monstrous cavern.Keg after keg, wine after wine, liquor after liquor filled the shelves and lined the walls that had been empty.And still Oakeye brought them in.Oakeye was gonna be a very happy man once again.

***

The day's light was waning.Dark Legion pulled on the reins of his horse to signal him to stop.He looked over the land that once supported Wildrunner Keep.It was a bloody and devastated landscape.Evil's army was gone and a few of Soth's minions lurked about, indicating that Evil had fled.He looked back and saw his unruly draconian army chafing at the bit.He ordered them down to the plains, and he strode down with them.Bodies and more bodies littered the ground as the hooves crunched against bones.He shook his head in disapproval._Too many dead, especially of the dark knights.Soth's plan of striking hard and fast to minimize losses had failed.His own Pestilence Wing could be counted among the dead.The battle had bogged down too quickly, so that reinforcements and other enemies arrived to crush them.Just because Soth had left the field of battle and his army moved without direction."Never again," he mumbled to himself.Dark Legion picked up a broken lance and a torn white cloak off a dead Knight of Solamnia.He marched on toward the keep while keeping an eye on Soth's surviving cohorts._

The next day, Dark Legion was alone on the same battlefield of blood and death.He had ordered the draconians to cover the land and bodies with oil from casks that were still in Wildrunner Keep.They had since moved to the outskirts and left the lone undead knight standing in the middle of the field."May all of you find peace in death; for you never had it in life.Such is the lot of mortals.Take solace, for you need not endure the living hell for those cursed like me.Rest in peace, and may you find…home."

With that word, his mace appeared in hand and he struck it against a rock.Sparks flew from the friction and ignited the area around him.The fire illuminated the night sky.

"Thus the cycles continue. From death comes life, from life comes death.And for me…only death."He walked into the pyre, unaffected by its purifying flame.

***

END OF CHAPTER EIGHT

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